benlessard

D, ive said that X and X should setup lebensohl while. Pass and X should setup 2NT(by partner as scrambling)

4Nt WTP was my answer

My response was X at MP, and pass at IMPs since too afraid partner leave it in.

4C/4H WTP was my responses. If partner got 4216 we are going to slam anyway.

One of my partner Normand is probably the author of what fromageGb play. He used to call it modified Romex and its at least 12 years old (probably more). The only fit you miss like i said in my previous post is 5S/3H vs 3S/4H (its a bit dumb to use 2NT-3NT to show 5S/3H by the way) He kept stuff from the original romex its 2Nt-3NT MSS D transfer and 2NT--3S = clubs/both m or transfer to 3NT But keeping your methods you can use 3C-3H-3S (asking for 5H or any H raise) instead of just asking for 5H. It allow to play that 4H is 5S+3H (it will sometimes lead to a 43 fit in H when 53?? vs 24[43] but the hand with 3 trumps has a doubleton) A later modification he later made is 3C-3Nt = 5H rather than 4S/4H. And 3C-3H-3NT = to play 3C-3H-3S = 4S or slammish something. It wrongside a S contract when opener is 44 and responder has 4S without 4 H and but give a bit less information on more common 3C-3Nt where they would often lead a S and a bit less lead directing X.

What is naive is to think that one side is going to have a clear edge in a XX contract. With decent players all over it will always be 18-22,19-21,20-20. And within those pts range ive seen as many XX-2 than XX making. So the pressure of a of a XX is both way, if you play against noob that can be scared easily then OK i agree the difference between X or XX is there. But as west if ive decided to pass with 3/4 pts & a 4333 when they XX why would i run ? Dummy with 7 pts and a balanced can make a stand and my partner got 17 pts. Or partner could easily have a 6 card suits that we will be able to establish because hes got the lead. PS the original X will never run btw. There are much more hands where south want to play 1NTx than want to play 1NTxx and its not close at all.

If i didnt insist on relays and keycard low i would play something similar. 1S-- ?? 1Nt= nf 2C = any hand with fit/ any GF bal 2D = H GI+ ---- or H weak or GF 2H = D GI+ the rest all with with clubs I also prefer 1Nt not forcing. I find it funny that people respond light + play 1Nt forcing + add Gazilli with a response of 2D is art, so everytime the S are 5-1 they are stuck at 3m/2NT with less than half of the deck in a possible misfit.

Try passing you will see. I know from your previous posts you have experience in weak Nt and understand what is really happening, so im rather convinced that if you think about it a little more you will see that passing with a broke 4333 is clearly superior to XX. The frequency isnt that great so i agree its not a priority but if you play 12-14 at all vulnerability and you have experience in weak nt defense and continuations I think my post is worth a quick look. First of all how many pts your pass show 5+ ? 6+ ? both have drawbacks if your passing with 5+ it mean that partner cannot business XX with a maximum and cannot X a 2M runout = almost pointless to play that pass guarantee pts unless its for scaring noob that will run with 5 pts. If your passing with 6+ it mean that you forced yourself to scramble with some hands that 1Ntx has a shot or will be -1 or that west is going to pull. Not perfect. Assuming your pass show 6+ (because 5+ is pointless) I dont have experience with passing show pts so maybe im missing something big, if so please tell me. Does 1Nt-(X)-p-(P) xx -(P)-P-(p) happen ? My guess is not even once a year. What about 1Nt-(X)-p-(P) xx -(run)-P-(or run) and you X them for -2 Its possible. does 1Nt-(X)-P-(run) X and (wiggle or not) go -2 ? Very rarely is my guess. (remember if south has pts and X them it doesnt count since ill be able to get them too at my table, only its when south pass showing pts permit north to X that its really a gain for your side) So its pretty clear that the advantage of pass always showing pts is very minimal. Now for the upside of passing with a broke 4333. As West I would pass all 5 count, pass most 4 count and also pass and pray with a 4333 3hcp (do you ?) I escape without a scratch when the opps pts are 20-3 19-3 19-4 /sometimes so lets divided by 2 18-4/divided by 2 so these hands you are almost in the -500/-300 territory while im going to be defending a partscore that can possibly still go down. Also all the hands where I save 200 pts. (4333) vs (4333) chance of reaching a 4-4 fit are 25% and even if you get the fit its possible 1Ntx score the same than 2Y doubled (the best is if they simply dont X you) but when your playing a 43 fit with no ruffing power it doesnt yield half a trick better than 1Nt. So more than 1/2 you blow a trick by being 2y instead of 1Ntx 4432 vs 4333 less than 50% your going to have a 4/4 fit and more often than not your not going to find it. You will always play in the bad 43 fit (no ruff with short trumps side) so some small loss here too. (4333) vs 5332 you should always be able to play undoubled or 5-3 fit but at a cost of missing 8 card fit in other situation. My guess is that you XX a 2C doubled to show the 3 OS so it mean you cannot used 2H/2D to show 5/4 A bit complex but here are the sequences 5242 vs 3433 1Nt (X)-XX-(P)-2C-(X)- you have to bid 2D here without showing wich suit is longer since you have to keep the xx for a (4333) i would play in S 4252 vs 3433 1Nt (X)-XX-(P)-2C-(X)-2D here you cannot show wich suit is longer since you have to keep the xx for a (4333) i would play in D Its a bit more complex than this since is you have a 3=3=3=4 the chance of reaching a 44 clubs fit is clerly better that if you 4=3=3=3 As for 54 you should XX if your broke the best fit can save a neat 200, if your in the making zone they wont probably X 2C helping you find the best fit but if they do the difference between 53 and 43 fit is huge. Pressure is important but not as important as reaching the best contract in close making/going down situation. Again this is very obvious for me.

I wouldnt pass. I would X pretty light in balancing seat, so if partner thinks hes making 4 i think we can make more :)

Not really since with shape we just raise or bid our suit naturally with xtras pts we X cue bids or bid impossible NT. The drawback are that we sometimes missed game that other will never miss. Some hands just get upgraded too much by the bidding and we are a bit screwed since extras will mean jumping from an initial 12-14 to 18-22. With good 6-5 opponent compete 95% of the time or we are in deep misfit that our system handle pretty well. So the real trouble hands for us are decent 5440,6430,5530,5521 wich hit homerun vs facing a fit. AKxxx Ajxxx xxx -- vs xxx Kx AQx Qxxxx vs a random 8-10 pts with no fit north hand will go nowhere and 2Nt/3M might easily go down but it will be great once you get a fit however. We we arent strong enough to open 1C. So we open 1S and bid 2D (H) and partner will play us for 11-14 with one Q that is surely wasted we might take the low road and up playing 2S thinking we are in a good spot if they find a S lead. Easy game that we are sure there not going to miss at the other table. The good points is that on some hand we get the chance to know our partner 2nd suit before deciding if its GF or not or making a limit raise. (With a 4 cards suit and with working values he can make a rare invitationnal bid). We dont mind missing some game as long as stopping low on some hands and getting to good slam give adequate compensation. The other downside is when opps bid a suit that will greatly upgrade our hand. AKxxx xxxx AQT x 1S--(P)--1Nt---(2D) here we will find our H/S fit but we might miss easy game if partner got 10pts and 3S/4H. Showing extras will suppose a jumpshift hands (18-22) so is not an option. We coudle probably swindle a solution like X = my hand has upgraded 2Nt = im 18-22 but it wont work 100% of the times. For a 1C opening the problem is less intense since our strong balanced hands are there. So a 16pts 4531 vs spades by partner can be upgraded to show like a 18-19 bal with fit for example. Any hand that is worth a jump shift is a 1M opening even if 15-17 range so as soon as partner respond we are in game. As for captaincy our system is great its mostly the unbalanced hand that describe irrelevent of strenght our relay break mean a very distributionnal hand with misfit likely. As long as the rebids are in transfers they can be weak to play or GF with no problems. Once the inv hands are out of the way its surprising the thing you can do without setting up 100% GF. The player that know the extras will force to game as when both are minimum we stop low. 1H-4H and similar mixed raise bid are a slight problems for us. We can do them but we need 2 bids. 1- If partner is weak its a good sac/ if hes strong hes going to a shot at it or if hes weak we have no slam and some hope to make game if hes strong slam is very likely. So its a crappy and a mixed raise. we do them with 5-10 pts. if you have 0-4 and partner is weak my hope of stopping the opponnent from bidding is quite low. Also when 1M (limited to 15) -(P)- your not going to have 0-4 pts very often. Yes but your range is 11-15 so you have to cater for opener having a maximum or a minimum. We open good 11 but drop some that most would open. Our 1C is more agressive. One of the problem we got is sometimes we give too much informations. responder is GF and ask opener to further describe is hand, at one point we could just signoff to game but we ask for keycards (low) jsut in case partner has a 18-22.At the other table its 1S-2D-2S (min)-4S. But sometimes we bid 23 pts slam on magic cards to find that the opps arent at game. Giving information is a double edge sword. It does allow a raptor 1Nt. 1H-1S X= spades and 1Nt = 4S+long m or X = takeout of H and 1NT S+m. That 1S come up too much its not a problem, with most GF hands I much prefer that its the cheapest bid available rather than having 2H as gf for example. We just bid a hand AJxxx x AQx xxxx --- Axxxx Kxxx AQxx 1S-1Nt 2S-2NT (2S is 12-14 S+C 2NT is art GF) (this is our worst start since the Gf is starting at 2NT wich is quite high) S+H is also like that 3H(exactly 5134)-now 5C hoping it has a play. 5C isnt a great contract but does have some play. In standardish approach its near impossible to avoid 3NT. If south try to describe is hand hes basically stealing space that north could use. You will just be better placed if you start with 1S--2C art GF since the H are so crappy. My point of view is taht since opener is 1 step ahead in describing his shpe let him the space, only overrule him with super solid suits (where you want partner to raise you with a stiff H) or void type of hands.

I agree 95% with Free very good posts, the only thing i disagree is a weak 0-4 pts (4333) why do you XX scramble with such hands ? Play that pass is some pts or 4333 instead, partner will XX with any 5 card suit instead of XX with a maximum. My biggest loss is when lho pull into opener suit and he can X for penalty (since he know ive got some values for my pass) but this wont happen often especially if my pass can show only 5-6 pts). I also loose by losing the ability to play 1Nt xx when opener is maximum but honestly this should never happen against decent opps. My biggest gain is since i dont XX with a poor 4333 i save 200/300 pts on these 2mX hands and I also avoid some bad scrambling (partner bidding 2C with (3235, 2353 or with 4423) i get all 8 card fit when 5332 vs 4333. Also with a borderline hand i induce LHO to pass since my pass could be a broke 4333. So i get sometime 1Ntx+1 instead of defending 2y. Another small advantage is that 1Nt-(X)-pass (show some pts)--2y the doubler will be less tempted to raise knowing hes got some pts behind him. (LHO bid become mostly an escape rather than a escape/suit) while since my pass can be broke hes sometimes going to raise and be down at the 3 level. Probably its a matter of range the weaker the range the more your escape have to be precise rather than wanting to punish light doubles. If id play a 13-15 or 14-16 i would probably play like you.

Im stubborn when it come to weak Nt runout. This post POV is responder/south. So north= 1Nt opener, RHO/east= doubler, LHO= the guy you want to put pressure on. Ive played 10-14 NT (12-15 vul) even with 5m in all seats wich are very frequent openings and tickle the opps into not respecting us. So we got X a lot. 1-- playing pass as forcing is really inferior no doubt about it. Often 1Ntx is your best contract sometimes you just dont have the points to have any chance to avoid a further X and you hold a 4333 or fit yourself in a 43 fit but got your trumps pull out quickly. Plus with some borderline hands 5/6 pts you can pass and watch LHO pull the double. While if you play pass as forcing LHO can pull with total garbage (0-2) and pass showing some pts (3+) on hands he would pull the X) also RHO (the doubler) can X the 1st rescue to show extras values (16+) and now LHO who would have normally pull the X start to like his hands enough to X if you fall into his suits. So not only you dont give them the chance to go wrong (pulling when 3-5 vs a big hand on the other side) but your also giving them a nearly free shot to show extras values wich is the last thing you want to do. These hands are frequent. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2- XX= one-suiter +direct= 2 suiter is inferior to direct one suiter xx= 2or 3 suiters , im strongly convinced of this. They are 4 reasons {2a}- main reason is that for frequent 4432,4234 shapes a XX give you a free supplemental chance in playing into a 5-3 fit or avoiding a X. While if you bid immediatly your lowest 4 card suit you miss a chance of playing in 5-3. Bidding a 3 card suit (4432 = 2D,2443=2C) is probably superior but it give LHO (the wrong opp) a chance to act. Example your 2443 broke 1Nt-(X)-?? if you bid 2D as D+higher you lose every chance of playing 2C or getting off the hook when partner has 4/5C and they dont X 2C . if you bid 2C better IMO (2 or 3 suiter with 3+clubs) planning to XX to show 2 higher later it allow lho a chance to X your 2C penalty to show values (and a lead) wich help rho make a penalty X later while if it goes 1Nt-(X)-XX-pass 2C- here RHO might bid a suit(good for us) . He might X to show penalty-ish extras value (bad for us) , or pass (forcing or NF) 1Nt-(X)-XX-pass 2C- (P)-P-??? here the opps will probably X as takeout or its going to be unclear for them (i think penalty is best with 2D takeout but ive seen most opps play take-out here). So in short 3 suiter (or 4432) hands are better handled by a XX than by the bid of the lowest suit since it give RHO an extra chance to X rather than LHO extra chance to X also there are more likely to be in balancing takeout X position and lose the penalty option. [2b] Its also sometimes give you an extra chance to show wich suit is longer. 1Nt-(X)-XX-pass 2C- (X)-??? XX = 2 higher suit with equal lenght or highest suit is longer. 2D=5D+4M 2H=5H+4S while if you play the XX = a one suiter all your gaining is the ability to XX until opener play the hand (but at the cost giving some chance for opps to show suits/extras values) they are going to be in FP so dont expect to be off the hook too often if your broke and have only a 5 card suit. [2c] Another advantage for XX 2/3 suiter is that it rightside more often. For 1 suiter its the same thing nearly 3/4 (unless C is the long suit) and for 2/3 suiter XX (and further XX) will rightside a lot more often than bidding the lowest suit directly in fact if they X us a 2nd time it will rightside everytime its 44 or 54 but rarely when responder is 45. I dont give too much importance to rightside if the opps have 25+ points since most of the time they can make safe leads/trumps lead and defend near perfectly. Giving them a transfer to X to show extras values can sometimes be costly if the opps points are shared very unevenly. But when i have some pts or hope of making the contract rightsiding become significant. [2d] One suiter delayed (by XX) allowed for the doubler to show real value and clubs without stopping a penalty X by lho. 1Nt-(X)-2D (long suit) -- (X) is penalty 1Nt-(X)-XX -(P) 2C -(P)-2D (long suit) - (X) is still be penalty so the drawback is when RHO can X 2C to show extras value. The basic point is everytime you make an artificial bid you pay some penalty (in the form of giving opp more options) so a XX asking for 2C you pay something because it allow LHO to pass and bid (show some pts) or to bid directly if broke for example) and it allow RHO to get a free X of a forced 2C response. I prefer to put pressure with single suiter and have the ability to wiggle with 2/3 suiter rather than do the opposite and i don't think its close at all. [2e] - as a side benefit passing become 4333 or pts. Opener will XX with any 5 cards suit (for us we can easily have 5M so its useful) ----------------------- IMO the best defense for LHO against a pair who runout XX to show single suiter or 2/3 suiter is pass = at least 3 pts pass and X = penalty pass and bid 1 higher = takeout bid 2C any 0-2 pts hands (ugly and esoteric but it rarely happen and when it does happen, partner got a monster that he would have overbid anyway) . bidding 2D/2H/2S = good hand not forcing but i expect partner to raise with a minimum and fit bidding a direct 2NT = good hand clubs not forcing but i expect partner to raise with a minimum and fit pass and bid a suit = fair hand or crappy suit All further X are penalty. once a 2nd penalty X has been done its FP. I think its a mistake to play FP before a 2nd penalty X. ----------------------

we are playing something like 1C--??? 1D= 4H or inv pts 1H = 4S not inv 1S = no M not inv 1C-1D 1H = with at least 3H 1S = min withut 3H (4S or 3244,3253,3235_ 1Nt extras The ability to be able to play 1M in fit or partial fit is a big plus.

The point of having split range is to not need invites and to avoid being stuck in comp bidding. 1S--(2H)--2S can be 0-10 pts. Even 1S--2S could be 3-10pts (partner will pass with all 12-14 and will bid on with 18-22 1S--(3H)-- with a bal 5-10 you just bid 3S knowing that partner doesnt have extras or has a lot of them. You also dont need to make borderline neg X. Its the same ideas of making a 2 suiter bid (Michaels) with a weak/strong but not with intermediates hands. If your opening range is 11-GF and you split it 11-15 and 16+ you will need inv everywhere. But if its 12-14 or 18-22 + 15-17 or GF you dont really need invs. For comp bidding /relay bidding and invite and stop low I have full confidence in my setup. The problems is that we cannot to open as low as the real 1 clubber and we dont respond "sub minimum" after a 1M opening (possible that we play 1M instead of 4 in the other M but so far it never happened in 4+years). Opening 1C with 15-17 hands is a way to show extras like Gazilli but without wasting space and keeping 2C as a possible contract. The point of 1H--1S--1NT showing clubs is that it allow us to play 2C when its 6-10 vs 12-14. Its also allow precise jumpshifting. 1S--1Nt--3H can be 6/5 all the way to 5422/5431 its simply impossible to get precise slam bidding afterward and it even worse when its 1S--1NT 3m. With transfer rebid 1S--1Nt--2D(h)--2M pref- now the 3rd bid will finish the shape.

since im 6241 partner is approx 10 times more likely to have a 1444 than a 4144. So you will often play 4S instead of 5/6D if you bid 4S

since im 6241 partner is approx 10 times more likely to have a 1444 than a 4144. So you will often play 4S instead of 5/6D if you bid 4S

H are often 4-1 after a 3C opening, so a direct 5Nt giving up on 7 seems reasonable. Its not easy finding an intelligent way to inv to 7 while finding the right strain. Seqeunce that come to mind are 5C--5H--5Nt PAS (passing 6) 5C--5D--5S has to be a try for 7, partner should bid 5Nt if is H are not great with Qxx in D or 4D. 5C--5S--(near impossible) easy 5Nt PAS followed by raise to 7. 5C--6H-- (very unlikely) but ive got an easy 7H So its relatively safe to try for 7 by bidding 5C. Note that PAS always suggest 3H/5or 6D since partner with both M will bid 4C and with a huge S/D i would bid different.

A♠ followed by J if partner encourage and by AH if discouraging for most expected dummy. Like Han im hoping for partner having a Maj K or for a stiff K in declarer. the big drawback is that partner will encourage with Qs and the KH since we are playing strong kings.

1Nt = clubs 12-14 or 18-22 2C=D 12-14 or 18-22 2D=6H 12-14 or 18-22 2H= 5H+4S 12-14 2S=low short (2nt ask) 4531,4621,4540,4630,5620,5611 18-22 2Nt 4522 18-22 3C = 4513 3D = 4612 3H = 4504 3S = 4603 3Nt= 5602 the main point is that opener is able to show 5H/4S at 2H so responder do not need to show 4S on turn 1. Maybe its possible to play 1H--1Nt as showing 4S for competitive purpose but i think its better if 1Nt show 5. By removing balanced hand we are giving ourselve a huge headstart for relaying full shapes under 3nt/4C. Opening 1nt with 5M332 12-14 is a big downside i can assure you, but the upside of unbalanced openings are just huge IMO.

with 15-17 we open a strong club. our 1S is as overloader as a 1Nt over 1S in standard, except that for competitive bidding we are much better placed than standard or precision players since one of the player know if we have game of not (we rarely need invites) . The fact that opener is unbalance help a lot too. For competitive bidding it make a lot more sense to bid a suit with 5-10 and relay with strong hands rather than 1Nt as a catch all and bid a suit with 12+ (wich is even higher if you open light). Its not close at all, the drawback of our method is we cannot open as light as the true 1clubber and we have to open 1nt with 5M332. But for comp bidding we are well ahead of the field.

The X of 2H should even show a better hand than what south have. I would pass 2H with south hand, yes i have 5/4 in m and D tricks but my QS is wasted i have no hearts honnors cards over East, im balanced and im dead minimum.

This is a case where you may go overboard. Also what do you do if you have the Q but no side kings (you had 4 keycards for example ?)

Sorry, ok if you have no clue about for spiral scan/ (SScan)please read http://www.bridgeguys.com/RGlossary/RosenkranzSpiralScan.html Assume cuebidding phase is over (or you are not cuebidding) and responder is able to keycard in clubs at 4C. Opener respond 4D 1or4. Responder bid 4H ask for the Q♣. Now what is the optimal set of responses and why ? Is it different if your are one or more step below ? The important cards after the Q of clubs are KS,KH,KD (in that order for the example). In SScan 4C--4D 4H (ask for QC)---??? 4S no 4Nt yes but no KS 5C yes+KS but no KD 5D and higher = Q+KS+KD or lets says any 2 K The other popular method is cheapest K ask. The responses are going to look like. 4C--4D 4H (QC?)--- 5C return in trumps suit = no Q 4Nt = Q + K♠ (4Nt show the K rather than 4S) 4S = Q + no K♠ (here 4S denies) it allow a 4Nt to aks for another K 5D and higher will show the Q plus 2 kings If we compare both method in most cases there is no differences. Q+KK or Q+KS both system work with the same efficency. Specific K work better than the Sscan is when its Q but no KS 4C--4D 4H--4S (Q♣ no K♠) here responder can bid 4Nt to ask for others K without bypassing the safety level of 5C. While if you play scan its not possible. 4C--4D 4H--4NT (Q♣ no K♠) However Sscan work better when you dont have the Q♣ 4C--4D 4H--4S (i dont have the Q) it allowed responder to bid 4Nt to aks for others K. But the case where opener doesnt have the Qs are less frequent(i think) and less important since often your going to Soff (missing 1 keyc and the Q of trumps for example) . I think what it mean is that if your 3 step under the game or safety contract you should play that return in trump suit denies the Q. The other case where you are 1 or 2 step below both method give the same result its easy to compare. If you are more than 3 steps returning to trumps suit without the Q waste too much space and is less efficient (this i know for sure). Hope its clear enough.